David Johnston News

Seattle Opera has a full slate of youth activities planned for the winter, providing opportunities for performance, music education, and community-building for students across Washington State.

The Philadelphia Artists' Collective has announced their 2023/24 season, featuring two highly inventive new productions that celebrate and challenge the expectations of classical theatre. PAC's diverse cohort of theatre artists, who stage rarely produced texts with visceral clarity in intentional spaces, announced the season at their annual launch party in Philadelphia, which was attended by dozens of patrons, neighbors, and friends.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present a sensory-friendly performance of Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, part of its Opera to Go! series specifically designed to create a welcoming and supportive environment for families with members on the autism spectrum and other sensory sensitivities, at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC on Saturday, February 4. The event is free and open to the public.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, part of its Opera to Go! series specifically designed for students, at Miller Outdoor Theatre from Monday, October 10 through Thursday, October 13.

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Laurie Cumbo announced $3.6 million in new capital funding for the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.

After an extensive search, Houston Grand Opera has announced Jennifer Bowman as the company's new Director of Community and Learning (formerly HGOco).

Just last month, Matcham Books released Troy David Johnston's Going Dark- a new book featuring a series of photographs that document the closure of theatres across the West End and Greater London during the 2020/21 Covid-19 pandemic.

American Lyric Theater (ALT) announced today InsightALT: Opera in Eden, a performance featuring three new one-act operas on themes of temptation developed by Resident Artists in the company’s nationally acclaimed Composer Librettist Development Program. ALT’s current Resident Artists (Composers Jasmine Barnes, Johanny Navarro, and Alex Weiser; and Librettists Joshua Banbury, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, and Marcus Yi) were selected from over 200 applicants to join the CLDP this season. Opera in Eden, which is the culminating event of the first year of these artists’ residency, will take place at National Sawdust in Brooklyn on Tuesday, May 17th, 2022 at 7:00pm.

Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2022–23 season, featuring a new production of Dame Ethel Smyth's rarely-performed masterpiece The Wreckers, the triumphant return of HGO-commissioned mariachi opera El Milagro del Recuerdo, the U.S. premieres of Opéra National de Paris and Royal Opera House's production of Werther and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía of Valencia's production of Salome, and beloved HGO classics La traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, and Tosca.

American Lyric Theater (ALT) today announced the Aria Access Project (AAP), a free hub of downloadable contemporary aria sheet music written by alumni of ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program.

Anna turns out to be indispensable in facilitating Augie's Lear, but more importantly she provides the anchor to Augie's wobbly effort to reclaim his self-esteem. A good chunk of Shakespeare gets a good polish, but the rehearsal itself is a mere conceit to unearth the real and urgent drama before us: the arc of a solid and beautiful marriage that endures life's travails.

Originally produced in 1977, the play catalogs the common acting adventures and technical mishaps that continue to age well: incidents and anecdotes on and off the stage that only seasoned thespians can truly appreciate. Nevertheless, it serves audiences a healthy dollop of good-natured laughs, thanks to the versatile delivery of two actors fit to embrace Mamet's brisk pace and not-too-subtle snides.

A community tribute to local performing arts fixture and activist Richard Justice will be held on Saturday, May 22nd at 2pm at the Imperial Theatre in Augusta.

From April 6-10, American Lyric Theater (ALT) presents FROM ERASED TO SELF-EMPOWERED: CELEBRATING BIPOC OPERA COMPOSERS AND LIBRETTISTS, a three-part online seminar and roundtable, culminating in a free virtual concert performance April 10th at 7:30 pm et. The program is open to composers, librettists, educators and the general public. Advance registration is required.

From Broadway to L.A., Portland, Ashland, Creede, D.C., New York, Chicago, Nashville, and places in between, Ashland New Plays Festival is bringing together artists from across the country for their 29th annual flagship event running October 18-25 featuring livestreamed readings of five winning new plays.

Here's a look at some of the newly added and upcoming streams being offered by opera companies across North America:

While West End theatres remain dark, photographer Troy David Johnston, who is normally employed in the wardrobe department at Wicked, is shining a spotlight on what remains of the usually bustling streets of London.

The Dramatists Guild Opera Committee's Librettist Initiative premieres the short film a?oeCredit the Librettist: Conversations with Today's Opera Makersa?? at Opera America's New Works Forum on Thursday, January 16 at 10am at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York.

Opera America will feature a public discussion with The Dramatists Guild's Opera Committee's Librettist Initiative at their New Works Forum on Thursday, January 16 at 10am at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York.

Midtown Direct and Triple Birch Media present an exclusive preview reading of NOVEL: An Audio Drama Series, created by Aimee Parrott and William Bienes.